Multiplier printing mechanism



y 15, 1952 N. CAPELLARO MULTIPLIER PRINTING MECHANISM Filed Feb. 25,1948 mm mF Inventor Maia, [c CAPELLARO 1L; Attorn y Patented July 15,1952 MULT-IPLIER PRINTING MECHANISM Natale Capellaro, Ivrea, Italy,assignor to 111g. 0.

Olivetti & C. Societa per Azioni' Application February 25, 1948, SerialNo. 10,850

In Italy March 26, 1946 Sectionl, Public Law 690, August 8, 1946 Patientexpires March 26, 1966 16 Claims.

The present invention relates to improvements in adding machinesequipped with an automatic multiplying mechanism and provided with asetting mechanism for the multiplier, and more par ticularly to deviceof such an adding machine for printing the multiplier In the devicepro,- vided for printing the multiplier, according to the presentinvention, the mechanism which operates thespecial printingtype-bar oithe multiplier! is connected to the multipliersetting means in a mannerthat it will be'actuated upon each setting of a digit of the multiplier,thus causing'the displacement of the type-bar andthesubsequent printingof thecset digit, said mechanism being restored and thereafter preventedfrom moving untilanew figure ofthe,multiplier-'isse't'. Therefore, theprinting of each digit of the multiplier occurs immediately aiter it hasbeen set regardless'of the number of machine s rokes made du 1 ing theperformance of a multiplication.

In a machine according tothe invention, the digits of the multiplier areprinted in a vertical sequence on the tape, which makes the reading ofthe multiplier rather-difiicnlt, if the figures or the multiplier areprinted in conventional vertical positionc Moreover, since the deviceaccording to the present invention for printing the multiplier may beapplied either to machines performing the multiplication from the firstleft hand digit of the multiplier or to machines performingthemultiplication from the first righthand digit of the multiplier, theoperator could be in doubt whether the multiplier printed on the tapeshould be read downwardly from the top or upwardly from the bottom.

In order to avoid any difficulties in reading the multiplier, the digitsof the multiplier-are printed in a special manner according to anotherfeature of the invention. More particularly, the digits of themultiplier are printed on the tape in such a manner that they-appear inan inclined position with respect to the conventional digits of themultiplicand and the addenda, thus clearly showing how the figurehas tobe read.

For example, digits inclined to the right are to be read downwardly fromthe top and digits inclinedto the left are to be read upwardly from thebottom. The inclined digits may be arranged at any desired angle: up to90"; preferably they arearranged at an angle of 45. In any case, theinclination of the digits is chosen according to the mode of operationof the machine andthe types for printing the digits are fixed in theinclined position thus chosen.

In a construction accordingth present 1nsuch 2 vention, wherein themultiplier is set by means of a key-board, the type-bar of themultiplier is operated in the conventional way by a rack, which is urgedby a spring in a rearward direction. When the printing device of themultiplier is in its rest position, the said rack is prevented frommoving by a mechanism actuated by a locking member controlled by thestemsv of the keys of the multiplier keyboard, so that,v upon depressionof any key of said key-board the rack is allowed to move rearwardlyunder the tension ofits spring,

until it will be stopped by means, provided on the stem of thedepressed, key.

Upon the printing or the set digit. of the multiplier the rack isreturned to its rest position by alever secured to the main shaft of themachine and it is held in said position until completion of themultiplication bydetentsvzwhich are actuated by said lever and whichalso actuate the nonprint mechanism. After the performance of themultiplication, the previously depressed key is released, in aconventional manner, for example by a mechanism of the type disclosed inthe Swiss Patent No. 250,105 t Olivetti; or in the U. S; Patent1,120,746 to Rinsche, and the lockingmember controlled by the sternof'sthe thus released key is'returnedinto its; rest position, thusrestoring said detents into inactive position and reengaging the racl;soas to prevent same from m v n u il an ther" dig t; of he multiplierwill bese Other objects and structural details of the invention will eappar t froma h fo owin der p i n when r a in, coniun i w th h aompanyine drawinesformins. pa of thi spe fication, wherein:

Fi 1 is an elevational w f; the mu i ier printing device according tothe invention;

Fi 2 is a par ial sectiona iew he de e shown in F 1 alone he lin A -A;

Fi 3 hows th d git ofthe mu i l n an n in d p s io o r adin down a d frm the top; and

Fig. 4 shows the d g-its of he mu t pl e n a i ne posi ion fo readinupwa l rom th bottom;

As shown in Fig. '1, the keys or the multiplier key-board are lo a ed aln o row a d A. pin 2 is secur to theilow end of e m of each key. Eachpin} is arranged for slidable engagement with an associated slot of a cn -memb r 3 so that the la e a b moved to the l u on 'cl pr ss en o a keA lever 4 wh c s norma l pr ent d i d placement by t e in 2 on the g:member 3 and which engages in this position a notch the rack 5, is thuspermitted to rotate in a counterclockwise direction under the action ofa spring 29, so that the rack 5 is disengaged. As soon as the lever 'Isecured to the main shaft 8 of the machine rotates in, a clockwisedirection the rack 5 is free to move to the right, being urged by thespring 6, until its left hand pin 5a engages the projection lb of thestem I of the depressed key.

A type bar or type carrier I connected to the rack through a pinion 9 isarranged, for lifting the type corresponding to the depressed key intoprinting position. The printing of the digit by the lifted type on thetape is performed in a customary manner by the stroke of a lever 30,upon release of the latter from the lever II and the bail I2.

When the lever I rotates in counterclockwise direction with the mainshaft 8, a pin I 3 mounted on said lever 1 comes into engagement withthe lug I4 of the rack 5, whereby the latter is returned into its lefthand end position.

Since the multiplier key remains depressed as long as the machinecontinues to cycle for performing the multiplication, the rack 5 wouldbe permitted to move to the right at each stroke of the machine, thuscausing the same digit to be reprinted each time. In order to preventsuch an undesired reprinting of the same digit, a non-print lever 26 ispivoted at its lower end to the horizontal arm of a bell-crank lever I5,pivoted at I6 and subject to the action of a spring 28 tending to urgesaid bell-crank lever I5 in counter-clockwise direction. The upper armof a latch 25, pivoted at 32,'is normally held in engagement with a pinI5a arranged on the horizontal' arm, of the bell-crank lever I5. As soonas the lever I is rotated in a clockwise direction its cam portion 33engages the lower arm of the latch 25 causing the latter to rotate,whereby the upper arm of the latch 25 is disengaged from the pin I5a onthe lever I5. Since, at this time the locking member 3 with its pin I1,which normally is in engagement with the lever I5, and thus prevents thelatter from rotating, is moved to the left upon depression of the key,the lever I5 now is free to rotate in counter clockwise direction by theaction of its spring 28. Said rotation of the lever I5 causes an upwarddisplacement of the non-print" lever 26 from its ineifective positionshown in Fig. 1 into a non-print position wherein its upper end isplaced in the path of the vertical arm of the bail I2. Thus, the bail I2is prevented from a rotation in counter-clockwise direction and,consequently, the levers 30 remain looked as shown in Fig. 1, thuspreventing a reprinting of the digit. Said upward displacement of thenon-print" lever 26 is, however, prevented during the first machinestroke, as the rack 5 is already displaced into its righthand positionat the time when the lever I5 is released by the latch 25 so that theupper edge of rack 5 to the left of a shoulder I8 of said rack is in thepath of an offset lug 3| arranged at the upper end of the vertical armof the bell-crank lever I5, whereby the latter is prevented fromrotation.

As soon as the rack 5 is restored to its original position by thecounter-clockwise rotation of the lever I at the end of the firstmachine stroke, the lever I5 is free to rotate in a counterclockwisedirection under the tension of its spring 28, while the lever I9,pivoted to the lever I5, engages the pin 20 secured to the framework ofthe machine. The lug 3| engages the shoulder I8 of the rack 5 thuspreventing same from moving during all subsequent machine strokes, whilethe lever 26 is moved by said rotation of lever I 5 into its uppernon-print position, as described above.

As soon as the multiplication has been performed and the depressed keyhas been restored to its normal position in a conventional way, thelocking-member 3 is moved to its right hand end position. The pin 2I onthe locking-member 3 causes a disengagement of the lever I9 from the pin20 so that the lever I5 is free to be restored to its normal position bythe pin I! on the locking-member 3. The lever 4 is restored by the pin22 on the locking-member 3, whereby it is reengaged with the notch ofthe rack 5 preventing the latter from moving during all of thoseoperations of the machine which are not performed by the multiplicationdevice.

In order to obtain printing of a cipher which may be contained in amultiplier, the cipher key of the multiplier key-board causes themachine to perform a full stroke. Since this stroke has to be made innon-add position, the stem of the cipher key operates the non-add link24 through the bell-crank 23 (see Fig. 1 Link 24 is a part of a non-addmechanism known per se. For example, the U. S. Patent 1,386,021 issuedto H. C. Peters for an Adding Machine discloses such a non-addmechanism. On page 12 lines 97-107 of said U. S. patent the use of anon-add lever is described. According to the disclosure on page 6 lines63-96 of said patent the lever 135, when operated,.lifts the link 136,thus preventing the register wheels from coming into engagement with theactuators during the rearward movement of the cycling mechanism, so thata number registered on the keyboard will not be accumulated. A rearwardmovement of the non-add" link 24 by the bellcrank 23 in the machineaccording to my invention has the same eflect as the lifting of the link136 of said U. S. Patent 1,386,021.

Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 show two ways of printing the figures of themultiplier. Both refer to a multiplication of the multiplicand 12.25with the multiplier 759. The embodiment according to Fig. 3 is for usein machines performing the multiplication from the first left hand digitand in this instance the figures will be read downwardly from the top.The embodiment according to Fig. 4 is for use in machines performing themultiplication from the first right hand digit and in the latterinstance the figures will be read upwardly from the bottom.

What I claim is:

1. In an adding machine equipped with a rockable main shaft, amultiplier indexing mechanism, and a printing mechanism, in combination:a series of selective setting means included in said multiplier indexingmechanism, a settable type carrier included in said printing mechanism,said type carrier being provided with a series of types for printingdigits of a multiplier, actuating means associated with said settingmeans and adapted for selectively setting said type carrier from aninitial position into an advanced position, locking means arranged fornormally locking said actuating means in its initial position, a memberassociated with said setting means and movable from an initial positioninto an actuated position upon actuation of one of said setting means, areleasing means controlled by said member for releasing said lockingmeans in response to an actuation of a setting means, restoring meansassociated with said main operating shaft for restoring said actuatingmeans from its advanced positioninto itsv initial position h during :thereturn stroke'of' said shaft, disabling means for disabling saidprinting mechanism, second locking means forlocking said actuating meansin an ineffective position, holding means associated with said memberfor holding said disabling and said second locking means in anineffective position when said member is in its initial position and forreleasing said disabling and said locking means upon movement of saidmember into an actuated position, latching means normally latching saiddisabling and said second locking means in an ineiiective position andcontrolled by said main operating shaft for unlatching same, retardingmeans controlled by said main operating shaft for retarding the releaseof said disabling and said second locking means substantially untilthe'end of the return stroke of said shaft, whereupon-saiddisabling andsecond looking means may reach their effective position disabling saidprinting mechanism and locking said actuating means in its initialposition.

2. In an adding machine as claimed in claim 1, retaining meansassociated with said disabling means and said second locking means forretaining same in their effective position, and means associated withsaid member for releasing said retaining means upon return of saidmember from an actuated position into its initial position.

3. Inan adding machine as claimed in claim 2, the types carried by saidtype carrier being in an inclined'position at an angle up to 90.

4. In an adding machine as claimed in claim 1, the types carried by saidtype-carrier being in an inclined position at an angle up to 90.

v 5. In an adding machine equipped with a rockable main shaft, amultiplier indexing mechanism, and a printing mechanism, in combination:a series of selective setting means included in said multiplier indexingmechanism, a settable type carrier included in said printing mechanism,said type carrier being provided with a series of types for printingdigits of amultiplier, actuating means associated with said settingmeans and adapted for selectively setting said type carrier from aninitial position into an advanced position, locking means arranged fornormally looking said actuating meansin its initial position, a memberassociated with said setting means and movable from an initial positioninto an actuated position upon actuation of one of said setting means, areleasing means controlled by said member for releasing said lockingmeans in response to an actuation of a setting means, restoring meansassociated with said main operating shaft for restoring said actuatingmeans from its advanced position into its initial position during thereturn stroke of said shaft, disabling means for disabling printingmechanism, second locking means for locking said actuating means in anineffective position, holding means associated with said member forholding said disabling and said second locking means in an ineffectiveposition when said member is in its initial position and for releasingsaid disabling and said second looking means upon movement of saidmember into an actuated position, latching means normally latching saiddisabling and said second locking means in an ineffective position andcontrolled by said main operating shaft for unlatching samesubstantially during the forward stroke of said shaft, obstructing meanscontrolled by said actuating means for obstructing the path of thereleased disabling and said second locking means during the movement ofthe actuating means into its advanced positionand for unobstructing thepath of same during the return of said actuating means into its initialposition, whereupon said disabling and said second locking means mayreach their effective position disabling said printing mechanism andlocking said actuating means in its initial position.

6. In an adding machine as claimed in claim 5. retaining meansassociated with said disabling means andsaidsecond locking meansforretaining same in their effective position, and means associated withsaid member for releasing said retaining means upon return of saidmember from an actuated position into its initial position.

'7. In an adding machine as claimed in claim 6, the types carried bysaid type carrier being in an inclined position'at an angle up-to 8. Inan addingmachine as claimed in claim 5, the types carried by said typecarrier being in an inclined position at an angle up to 90.

9. In an adding machine of the class equipped with a rockable mainoperating shaft, a multiplier indexing mechanism, a non-add mechanism,and a printing mechanism, the combination with said mechanisms of anadding machine of a series of selective digits setting means comprisinga zero-digit setting meansincluded in said multiplier indexingmechanism, a settable typecarrier included in said printing mechanism,said type-carrier being provided with a series of types for printingdigits of a multiplier, actuating means associated with saidsettingmeans and adapted for selectively setting said type carrier from aninitial position into an advanced position, locking means arranged fornormally looking said actuating means in its initial position, a memberassociated with-said setting means and movable from an initial positioninto an actuated position upon actuation of one of said setting means, areleasing means controlled by said member for releasing said lockingmeans in response to an actuation of a setting means, restoring meansassociated with said main operating shaft for restoring saidactuatingmeans from its advanced position into its initial position during thereturn stroke of said shaft, disabling means for disabling said printingmechanism, second locking means for'locking said actuating means in aninefiective position, holding means associated with said member forholding said disabling and said second locking means in an ineffectiveposition when said member is in its initial position and for releasingsaid disabling and said locking means upon movement of said member intoan actuated position, latching means normally latching said disablingand said second locking means in an ineffective position and controlledby said main operating shaft for unlatching same, retarding meanscontrolled by said main operating shaft for retarding the release ofsaid disabling and said second locking means substantially until the endof the return stroke of said shaft, whereupon said disabling and saidsecond locking means may reach their effective position disabling saidprinting mechanism and locking said actuating means in its initialposition, and link-means, responsive to an actuation of the zero-digitsetting means, arranged for operating the non-add mechanism of themachine so as to cause the machine to make one stroke in non-addposition.

10. In an adding machine as claimed in claim 9, retaining meansassociated with said disabling means'and said second locking means forretaining same in their effective position, and means associated withsaid member for releasing said retaining means upon return of saidmember from an actuated position into its initial position.

11. In an adding machine as claimed in claim 10, the types carried bysaid type carrier being in an inclined position at an angle up to 90.

12. In an adding machine as claimed in claim 9, the types carried .bysaid type carrier being in an inclined position at an angle up to 90.

13. In an adding machine of the class equipped with a rockable mainoperating shaft, a multiplier indexing mechanism, a non-add mechanism,and a printing mechanism, the combination with said mechanisms of anadding machine of: a series of selective digits setting means comprisinga zero-digit setting means included in said multiplier indexingmechanism, a settable typeearrier included in said printing mechanism,said type-carrier being provided with a series of types for printingdigits of a multiplier, actuating means associated with said settingmeans,

and adapted for selectively setting said type car-, 25

rier from an initial position into an advanced position, locking meansarranged for normally locking said actuating means in its initialposition, a member associated with said setting means and movable froman initial position into an actuated position upon actuation of one oisaid setting means, a releasing means controlled by said member forreleasing said locking means in response to an actuation of a settingmeans,

restoring means associated with said main 0p-\ 35 erating shaft forrestoring said'actuating means from its advanced position into itsinitial position during the return stroke of said shaft, disabling meansfor disabling said printing mechanism, second locking means for lockingsaid actuating means in an ineffective position, holding meansassociated with said member for holding said disabling and said secondlocking means in an ineffective position when said member is in itsinitial position and for releasing said disabling and said secondlocking means upon movement of said member into an actuated position,latching means normally latching said disabling and said second lockingmeans in an in- 8 eflfective position and controlled by said mainoperating shaft= for unlatching same substantially during the forwardstroke of said shaft, obstructing means controlled bysaid actuatin meansfor obstructing the path of the released disabling and second lockingmeans during the movement of the actuating means into its advancedposition and for unobstructing the path of same during the return ofsaid actuating means into its initial position, whereupon said disablingand said second locking means may reach their effective positiondisabling said printing mechanism and locking said actuating means inits initial position, and link-means, responsive to an actuation of thezero-digit setting means, arranged for operating the non-add mechanismof the machine so as to cause the machine to make one stroke in non-addposition. .1

14. In an adding machine as claimed in claim 13, retaining meansassociated with said dis abling means and said second locking means forretaining same in their effective position, and means associated withsaid member for releasing, said retaining means upon return of saidmem-, her from an actuated position into its initial position.

15. In an adding machine as claimed in claim 14, the types carried bysaid type-carrier being in an inclined position at an angle up to 90.

16. In an adding machine as claimed in claim 13, the types carried bysaid type-carrier being in an inclined position at an angle up to 90.

NATALE CAPELLARO.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,120,746 Rinsche Dec. 15, 19141,230,928 Rummler June 26, 1917 1,439,175 Landsiedel Dec. 19, 19221,910,201 Cordt May 23, 1933 2,237,881 Landsiedel Apr. 8, 1941 2,255,622Landsiedel Sept. 9, 1941 2,335,368 Uhlmann Nov. 30, 1943 2,357,167Broido Aug. 29, 1944

